"Love You Mom"

     Their is a lot of responsibility that comes along with being a mother.  When your child is born their is the pain and healing that has to be endured all while trying to take care of a new life that is totally dependent on you for every little thing from feeding and diaper changes to cuddling and holding.  It's not easy when your sore and tired.
     Then time passes and before you know it your baby is two or three and they are into everything. Gone is the infant who couldn't do anything for himself, replaced by a person that wants to try and do everything for himself, even though he can't quite pull it off yet. Their is the temper tantrums and the messes. Patience is sometimes hard to find, and then you blink and you're taking them off to their first day of school. Suddenly, there is a shift in the balance of power. Teachers and other parents and children influence your child in good ways and bad, and the older the child gets, the less influence you have.  It's sometimes painful when you realize that the baby who you have devoted your life, love and energy to, doesn't want his friends to know that you are his mom.
     That's why when I drop my boys off at school and my ten year old says, "Love you, Mom," My heart skips a beat.  I know sooner rather than later, that will stop, but for right now, I am going to bask in the warmth that those words give me and know that it is worth all the work, exhaustion and heartache that I have been through and that will come with the teen years, and it will come with the teen years.  Those three little words mean so much, "Love you, Mom,"  I love you too, and you will never know how much until you have a child of your own to hold in your arms in the middle of the night.